Evil Geniuses vs. Cloud9 8/22/20 - LCS Summer Split Picks & Predictions

This is where things get incredibly complicated. We have two teams with entirely different narratives and a good chunk of them have recently been subverted in the most unexpected of ways. On paper, this is an easy Cloud9 win. Heck, “easy” doesn’t even cut it. They’ve been one of the most dominant and commanding champions in North American history — but the key word here is “been.” Their recent play, by which we mean the last month or two, has been nothing short of abysmal. Sure, they got a few wins on the board here and there, but that hasn’t been against the best teams the LCS has to offer, and whenever they faced against one of those, they were mostly outclassed in every way, shape, and form. They have a dreadful read on the meta, they’ve shown no ability (or willingness) to adapt, their individual play has been quite sloppy and the same goes for the way they set up objectives and move around the map as a five-man unit. This Cloud9 is a pale shadow of its former self, and it’s quite noticeable. Granted, Evil Geniuses are far from a top-tier behemoth, but they’ve still looked better even in their 2-3 loss to FlyQuest. Heck, they put up a bigger fight against the boys in white and green, too. 

Overall, this is quite impossible to predict with confidence. Cloud9 is better in every sense of the word but that means very little if they once again fail to adapt and fix their issues in time. To lose is one thing, but to lose in such one-sided fashion tells us that there are some serious issues at play, and whenever that’s the case, teams need far more than just two days to adapt. Still, their loss was — hopefully — a dramatic wake-up call. They’re more than talented enough to take Evil Geniuses down, but whether that’ll truly happen is anyone’s guess at this point. The onus is on them to perform and hopefully, they’ll be up to the task.